ts. In the course of the beat his
dogs disturbed a beautiful snow-white stag, and directly he saw it the
king determined that he would have it at any cost. So he put the spurs
to his horse, and followed it as hard as he could gallop. Of course all
his attendants followed at the best speed that they could manage; but
the king was so splendidly mounted, and the stag was so swift, that,
at the end of an hour, the king found that only his favourite hound and
himself were in the chase; all the rest were far, far behind and out of
sight.

Nothing daunted, however, he went on and on, till he perceived that he
was entering a valley with great rocky mountains on all sides, and that
his horse was getting very tired and trembled at every stride. Worse
than all evening was already drawing on, and the sun would soon set.
In vain had he sent arrow after arrow at the beautiful stag. Every shot
fell short, or went wide of the mark; and at last, just as darkness
was setting in, he lost sight altogether of the beast. By this time his
horse could hardly move from fatigue, his hound staggered panting along
beside him, he was far away amongst mountains where he had never been
before, and had quite missed his way, and not a human creature or
dwelling was in sight.

All this was very discouraging, but the king would not have minded if he
had not lost that beautiful stag. That troubled him a good deal, but
he never worried over what he could not help, so he got down from his
horse, slipped his arm through the bridle, and led the animal along the
rough path in hopes of discovering some shepherd's hut, or, at least, a
cave or shelter under some rock, where he might pass the night.

Presently he heard the sound of rushing water, and made towards it. He
toiled over a steep rocky shoulder of a hill, and there, just below him,
was a stream dashing down a precipitous glen, and, almost beneath his
feet, twinkling and flickering from the level of the torrent, was a dim
light as of a lamp. Towards this light the king with his horse and hound
made his way, sliding and stumbling down a steep, stony path. At the
bottom the king found a narrow grassy ledge by the brink of the stream,
across which the light from a rude lantern in the mount of a cave shed
a broad beam of uncertain light. At the edge of the stream sat an old
hermit with a long white beard, who neither spoke nor moved as the
king approached, but sat throwing into the stream dry leaves which l